Textbook Weight in California

Summary of the State Board of Education action.

Assembly Bill 2532 (Chapter 1096, Statutes of 2002)
required the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt maximum weight
standards for elementary and secondary school textbooks by July
1, 2004. This legislation specifically required the SBE to take
into consideration the health risks to students when devising
these new standards.

Following the SBE's initial examination of this issue at its
July 2003 meeting, a "working group" of stakeholders,
members of the Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials
Commission (Curriculum Commission), and California Department
of Education (CDE) staff was convened to review background information
and discuss options. Then, in November 2003, the Executive Committee
of the Curriculum Commission discussed the issue, and, in January
2004, the full Curriculum Commission received a presentation from
MeadWestvaco on the implications of using lighter basis weight
papers in textbooks. Finally, in April 2004, the Curriculum Commission
reviewed a revised version of the textbook weight report that
incorporated recommendations developed by the CDE and sent final
recommendations forward to the SBE. These recommendations were
considered and approved at the SBE's May 2004 meeting.

The SBE found that while no single program is excessive,
together all present a danger. The initial version
of the report on textbook weight demonstrated that the combined
weight of instructional materials in the four core areas exceed
the maximum recommended weight for students to carry on a regular
basis.

Setting an absolute weight cap alone is not the answer
to the complicated issue of student burdens. Putting
strict caps on textbook weight raises new problems of cost,
durability, and accessibility for local districts and may, in
fact, hinder the ability of students to gain access to high
quality materials.

Instead, the SBE required publishers to provide local
districts with options for lighter weight materials ,
such as split volumes, electronic editions, or classroom sets.
Many of these options already exist, but by disseminating information
about these alternatives to districts, and by requiring publishers
to provide this option, then districts, which are in the best
position to judge the needs of their students, can choose the
solutions that are best suited to their particular situation.

Based on the study of current textbooks conducted by the CDE
and the recommendations of the Curriculum Commission, the
SBE adopted the following threshold weights for requiring a
lighter-weight option . Any textbooks that are over
the recommended weight for the appropriate grade level will
have to be accompanied by a lighter-weight option that districts
would have the option to purchase for their students.